DFA (PNA file photo) MANILA -The Philippine government has assured help with the repatriation of Wilma Abulad Tezcan, one of the two Filipinos killed following two powerful earthquakes in Turkiye last Monday. "As requested by the daughter and with the consent of the husband, the Embassy is arranging the immediate repatriation of the body of Wilma Abulad Tezcan," the Philippine Embassy in Ankara said Saturday. Information on the second fatality, on the other hand, is yet to be released. Rescue, relief and evacuation efforts continue in southeast Turkiye after it was devastated by a 7.8 and 7.6 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 20,000 people so far. As of this writing, four more Filipino families were evacuated from the city of Gaziantep to the Turkish capital of Ankara via sprinter buses. Gaziantep was one of the severely-hit areas, more than 200 kilometers from the embassy's previous operations in Antakya, Hatay. The embassy also said that some Filipinos have cho
MANILA - The Department of Health (DOH) has detected 924 new cases of the highly-transmissible Omicron subvariants. In its latest Covid-19 biosurveillance report, the agency noted that there were 1,078 samples sequenced by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center on Jan. 28 to Feb. 3. Out of the total samples, 454 or 42.12 percent were classified as BA.2.3.20; 196 or 18.18 percent as XBB (including one case of XBB.1.5; 79 or 7.33 percent as XBC; 28 or 2.60 percent as BA.5 (including six cases classified as BQ.1); seven or 0.65 percent as BA.2.75 (including three cases classified as CH.1.1 and three cases classified as BN.1); and 160 or 14.84 percent as other Omicron sublineages. Screenshotfrom DOH website "The additional BA.2.3.20 cases were local cases from all regions except Eastern Visayas, while XBB cases were found in all regions except Eastern Visayas and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM
(Photo courtesy of DOTr) MANILA -The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is set to improve walkways and bicycle lanes across the National Capital Region (NCR) after the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) approved its Active Transport Infrastructure Improvement Program (ATIIP). In a statement on Friday, the DOTr said a dry run of the ATIIP will include improvements on road configuration, "widening of pedestrian walkways and protected bi-directional bike lanes." "The project forms part of the DOTr and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) joint partnership aimed at enhancing the overall active transport infrastructure along EDSA particularly in Santolan, Ortigas, and Shaw," it said. The project was approved during an alignment meeting at the MMDA's Makati Office led by MMDA General Manager Ret. P/Col. Procopio Lipana and Assistant General Manager for Operations lawyer Victor Pablo Trinidad on Tuesday. The DOTr is committed to executing
BIRD CENSUS. An Intermediate Egret is among the 36,592 birds belonging to the 32 water bird species found during the Asian Water Bird Census (AWC) on Wednesday (Jan. 18, 2023) at the monitoring site in Lake Mainit, which spans the towns of Jabonga and Kitcharao in Agusan del Norte. The AWC is done every second and third week of January. (Photo courtesy of CENRO-Tubay) BUTUAN CITY - At least 32 water bird species are found thriving inside the monitoring site in Lake Mainit stretching across the towns of Jabonga and Kitcharao, highlighting the need for sustained ecological preservation. "The census also recorded 12 new water bird species foraging and taking refuge inside the monitoring site in Lake Mainit," Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in Tubay, Agusan del Norte (CENRO-Tubay) said in a statement Thursday. It was referring to the Annual Asian Water Bird Census (AWC) launched on Wednesday, which is conducted during the second and third weeks of every January
NO DAMAGE. Passengers check in for their flights inside the NAIA Terminal 3. The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said flight operations at the NAIA are now back to normal as Typhoon Karding is expected to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility by Monday night (Sept. 26, 2022).(Photo courtesy of MIAA) MANILA - No damage was reported in all terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), and operations are now back to normal, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said Monday night. "There are still flight delays as of 7 p.m. -a domino effect of flight cancellations/delays due to Typhoon Karding," MIAA told the Philippine News Agency. The MIAA said a few trees along the road to NAIA fell but did not cause damage to the property. Clearing operations were conducted at the airport's airside and landside. Personnel were tasked to sweep the leaves and trash at the landside pavement. Runways and taxiways were aso checked for any debris whi